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Just another reason to use discretion when posting to Facebook. Some employers have started asking their employees for the passwords to their Facebook accounts.

The practice caught the eye of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) when the Maryland Department of Corrections (DOC) asked applicants to log into their profiles and click through private messages, photos, wall posts, and other items as the interviewer watched. Called “shoulder surfing,” the ACLU said that even though it’s technically voluntary, it’s a gross violation of privacy.

And it doesn’t just extend to applicants. The DOC asked Robert Collins for the passwords to his email and Facebook after he had been working there for many years.

“Here I am, a U.S. citizen who hasn’t broken any laws, who hasn’t committed any crimes, and here I am having a prospective – well, not prospective in my case – an employer, looking at my personal communications, my personal posts, my personal identifiable information,” Collins said in a video from the ACLU. “It is an absolute and total invasion and total overreach on their part.”

After Collins’ case, the department suspended the policy of requesting passwords for 45 days, and instead compromised with “shoulder surfing.”

You should know that sharing passwords is actually a violation of Facebook’s terms. The social network’s policy on registration and account security reads “you will not share your password… let anyone else access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account.”

What do you think? Would you give a potential employer your password for a job? Would you give your current employer your password?